How to fix quota reached/exceeded errors

Getting quota errors? Don't panic! Here's how to diagnose and fix them:

Types of quotas

Storage Quota

This means your cloud storage is full

"Quota exceeded"
"Storage limit reached"
"No space left"
"User rate limit exceeded"

API Rate Limits

This means you're making requests too fast

"Rate limit exceeded"
"Too many requests"
"429 Error"
"Bandwidth quota exceeded"

Transfer Quota

This means you've hit daily transfer limits

"Download quota exceeded"
"Daily limit reached"
"Bandwidth limit exceeded"

Quick fixes

For Storage Quota

Check your usage

# See how much space you're using
rclone about remote:

# Get size of specific folder
rclone size remote:folder

Free up space

# Find large files
rclone ls remote: --min-size 100M

# Find old files
rclone lsl remote: --max-age 365d

# Remove duplicates (carefully!)
rclone dedupe remote: --dedupe-mode newest

Empty trash

# Google Drive
rclone cleanup remote:

# Other providers may need web interface

For API Rate Limits

Slow down transfers

# Limit transactions per second
rclone copy /local remote: --tpslimit 10

# Add delay between API calls
rclone copy /local remote: --tpslimit-burst 1

Reduce parallel transfers

# Default is 4, reduce to 1
rclone copy /local remote: --transfers 1

Use bandwidth limits

# Limit to 1 MB/s
rclone copy /local remote: --bwlimit 1M

# Limit only during work hours
rclone copy /local remote: --bwlimit "08:00,512k 18:00,10M"

Implement retries with backoff

# Retry with increasing delays
rclone copy /local remote: \
  --retries 10 \
  --retries-sleep 1s \
  --low-level-retries 10

# Use --fast-list to reduce API calls
rclone copy /local remote: --fast-list

Enable caching

# Use VFS caching for frequently accessed files
rclone mount remote: /mount/point \
  --vfs-cache-mode full \
  --vfs-cache-max-age 48h

For Transfer Quota

Wait it out
- Google Drive: 750GB upload/day per user
- OneDrive: 250GB upload/day
- Dropbox: Varies by plan
Most quotas reset after 24 hours.

Schedule transfers

# Run at night when quotas reset
# Linux/Mac cron example:
0 2 * * * rclone sync /local remote:

Spread across days

# Transfer files modified in last day only
rclone copy /local remote: --max-age 24h

Split large transfers

# Transfer in chunks by date
rclone copy /photos remote:photos --max-age 30d
rclone copy /photos remote:photos --min-age 30d --max-age 60d
rclone copy /photos remote:photos --min-age 60d